Tag Archives: The Empire Strikes Back

The only UCS AT-AT I can afford

The UCS AT-AT set is impressive: full of detail, has an accurate interior, and is a marvel of LEGO engineering when it comes to stability and articulation. But at £750, it is way out of my budget, not to mention that it wouldn’t fit anywhere in my apartment (U.K. rooms be small.) Luckily, Will (BrickGuild) Built a smaller version of the AT-AT.

Microscale AT-AT MOC

This microscale Imperial Walker is instantly recognisable, and sports one of the cleanest exteriors I’ve seen on such scale. The surfaces are clean and smooth, with studs remaining only on the wedge plates. I particularly like the use of “sandwich tiles” to give the hull some paneling. Using minifig hands as the “toes” of the walker is genius. And it can be posed reasonably, tho Will had to sacrifice knee articulation. Understandably so, that would have been impossible for a model this small without making the legs too clunky.

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Imperial by birth, Rebel by choice

Did you know that the Rebel Alliance’s Medical Frigate began its life in the service of the Empire? LEGO builder Remco Rohaan shares his latest masterpiece, the Imperial Nebulon-B Frigate.

Lego Star Wars Imperial Nebulon MOC

It’s an established fact in the Star Wars lore that the Nebulon-B Frigate, first seen at the end of The Empire Strikes Back, was a ship built by the Empire but stolen by the Rebellion. Yet we’ve never seen the Nebulon-B during its time as an Imperial warship. Thanks to fan art creators like EC Henry and Fractal Sponge, we’ve been able to get a glimpse of what the Nebulon-B must have looked like before it fell into the hands of “Rebel scum.” Now, we have the privilege of seeing the ship in LEGO form.

Clearly, this looks like an Imperial warship. The armor plating, command bridge, and TIE fighter-style wings give off really strong Empire vibes. Speaking of armor plating, I just love how much there is. The Rebel version of the Nebulon-B has a considerable amount of armor removed, which is typical of Rebel spacecraft.

Builder Remco Rohaan also included digital instructions of his Imperial Nebulon-B on his Flickr page but also check out this quick video of it being assembled

https://www.flickr.com/photos/remcorohaan/51408124868/

Here’s an image of his Imperial Nebulon-B to scale with the Rebel version, an Imperial Gozanti freighter, and an Imperial shuttle.

Lego Star Wars Imperial Fleet

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This may smell bad, kid...but it’ll keep you warm...

The tenacious smuggler turned burgeoning rebel general, Han Solo, really saved the galaxy by cutting open that poor Tauntaun. Thankfully, his quick thinking made good use of the dead creature’s lingering heat. Before you start wondering if that residual heat would really keep Luke alive through a night on Hoth, just remember that Han says he’s putting up a shelter. The real tragedy is that Han knew he’d be sacrificing that, er, magnificent creature when he left Echo base. He was warned! Still, I’m sure Luke was grateful, both for being saved and for being unconscious during his nap in a Tauntaun carcass. Mostly. Anyway, this playful Miniland-scale Star Wars model by Ochre Jelly hits me right in the nostalgia.

The Miniland building style allows for playful details in brick-built figures. Ochre Jelly is fond of this style and has built some iconic scenes and memes in the past. Here he’s done a wonderful job with the Hoth versions of Han Solo and Luke Skywalker from the beginning of The Empire Strikes Back. Their respective outfits translate well to bricks and plates with proper color blocking. Han’s fuzzy hood achieved with exposed studs is pretty neat and his stance captures his mood perfectly.

The scale of the figures definitely allowed for more detail and curves in the Tauntaun. Big, thick legs and distinctive claws, along with a saddle and amazing horns, match well with the source material. Those Minifigure arms used as guts are a real clincher, though. A mess of blue clips and plates seem like blood pooling under the multi-colored assortment of Minifigure body parts with hotdogs thrown in for good measure. Delusional Luke probably appreciates that warm goo a little bit, right?

I’m just glad that the LEGO Group hasn’t made scented bricks because we do not need to know the actual difference between the outside and inside smells of a Tauntaun.

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This Adidas Originals AT-AT was pretty much a shoo-in feature

You may have heard that The LEGO Group came out with the official Adidas Originals Superstar set. Well, it was only a matter of time before someone built their own creations inspired by the iconic sneaker. Henry Gouw answered the call of duty and is a comfy fit for the kind of stuff we like around here. Here we see the Adidas Superstar is a perfect shoo-in for the body of the AT-AT Walker from Star Wars: Return of the Jedi. This is certainly keeping in step with the icons represented in both franchises. So why would we pass up a feature in which the puns just write themselves? We don’t! You’re welcome.

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LEGO 75296 Star Wars Darth Vader Meditation Chamber available for pre-order now [News]

LEGO just unveiled the latest adult playset from Star Wars featuring Darth Vader’s Meditation Chamber. The set comes with 663 pieces, a Darth Vader and General Veers minifigure. The set is available for preorder now (limit of 2 pieces per order) and retailing at US $69.99 | CAN $99.99 | UK £59.99 and will ship on August 1st 2021.

Click to take a closer look at the set details

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A gas mining colony with a view [Instructions]

For the last several years, I can’t imagine the evening of May 4th without rewatching The Empire Strikes Back. Nor the story, neither the sceneries get old. And speaking of the alluring Cloud City, this hilariously tiny rendition of the location by Luis Peña is surely a micro masterpiece. It is built with just 31 pieces, and there are even instructions available for the model.

Cloud City (LEGO Model with instructions)

I adore the use of LEGO cloud elements. So, in case you haven’t got the latest UCS-style 75308 R2-D2 yet, I see no reason not to build a tiny copy of the Cloud City to put on an office desk.

Cloud City (LEGO Model with instructions)

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LEGO Star Wars 75294 Bespin Duel now available [News]

Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back recently celebrated the 40th anniversary of its release, and LEGO is honoring the occasion with 75294 Bespin Duel available exclusively from the LEGO Shop and Target ($39.99 USD | $49.99 CAD from the LEGO Shop and $39.99 USD from Target). The set includes 295 pieces, with minifigures of Luke Skywalker and his dear dad Darth Vader, and will be available on August 27th, 2020.

Two years ago, LEGO’s first “Master Builder” set 75222 Betrayal at Cloud City included a scaled-down version of this same scene, but this version is more detailed and includes a stand with a commemorative plaque.

Unfortunately, this LEGO Star Wars set will only be available in the US and Canada. The set was originally designed as the exclusive set for Star Wars Celebration, originally scheduled for August 27th-30th. With the cancellation of nearly all in-person events in North America due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this set is being made available online, but only in the United States and Canada.

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First look at the LEGO 75288 AT-AT from Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back [News]

Revealed by retailer Amazon Japan, we get a first look at The LEGO 75288 AT-AT  that comes with the label of the 40th anniversary of Star Wars Episode IV: The Empire Strikes Back. It’s been a while since an AT-AT was released at this scale with LEGO 75054 AT-AT back in 2014. It comes with 1,267 pieces, six minifigures and is scheduled to be released on Sept. 1st 2020 for US $159.99 | CAN $199.99 | UK £139.99.

Click to see more images

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New LEGO Star Wars busts revealed: 75276 Stormtrooper and 75277 Boba Fett [News]

LEGO continues to pursue the adult market with its range of Star Wars sets, and today we’re getting a look at two more unique display pieces, 75276 Stormtrooper and 75277 Boba Fett. The pair of busts was revealed by retailer Toysanta earlier today, and each features upscale box art in a style that’s new to the LEGO Star Wars lineup, with the character’s name displayed prominently across the top. Both sets celebrate the 40th anniversary of The Empire Strikes Back, which was released in 1980, and feature the anniversary logo on the box.

There’s no word yet on when to expect these to hit stores or their official pricing, though Toysanta’s prices seem to indicate they’ll retail for around $70-$80 USD. Of course, this isn’t the first time LEGO has produced character busts from Star Wars. Recently the company has launched two similar (though smaller) sets, each available in a limited market. The 75227 Darth Vader Bust was available only to Target Red Card holders, while 77901 Sith Trooper Bust was only given away to randomly selected attendees at San Diego Comic-Con in 2019. We don’t know yet what the availability for these sets will be, but we hope that LEGO does the right thing and makes them widely available. Going way back, the much larger 10018 Darth Maul bust from 2001 was among the first LEGO Star Wars sets targeted at adult fans.

Continue reading

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This AT-AT’s hull is too strong for blasters

The Battle of Hoth is a popular scene to recreate with LEGO, and there are multiple versions of it as fan creations as well as official LEGO sets. My new favourite take on the battle has got to be Fuku Saku’s Assault on Hoth. He’s got all the essential elements: a snowspeeder, an AT-AT, and most importantly, a snow! On top of that, he’s built a turret representing Echo Base, a probe droid from before the battle, and an AT-ST coming up from behind.
Assault on Hoth
The designs on the vehicles are spectacular, the AT-AT in particular. For one, it actually looks armoured. On top of that, all the right details are present, such as the side hatches. It even has interior detail and space for snowtroopers to actually be transported. The overall attention to detail in the entire battle scene is on point – it’s not often that blaster bolts are built into LEGO models, flying through the air. But they’re included here, and it really feels like there’s a battle going on.

Functions

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Breaking News: deadbeat dad ruins kid’s life, hand

A Tatooine man known as Darth Vader has ruined his son Luke’s life and chopped off his hand, sources told our reporters last Monday. This creation by Joffre Zheng depicted the scene immediately after the lightsaber duel on Bespin where Vader and Skywalker took the kerfuffle onto a dangerous overhang. After slicing off Luke’s hand, a portion of guardrail and some other mechanical doodads, the two exchanged heated words. Vader had reportedly goaded Skywalker about the power of the Dark Side before revealing that he was his father.

I'm your father

Unbelieving that such a deadbeat could be his dad, Luke jumped hundreds of feet then slid down what might have been a garbage shoot. He later emerged, clinging to a radio antenna beneath Bespin’s superstructure. Skywalker was later rescued on board the Millennium Falcon by his friends Chewbacca, Princess Leia Organa, and Lando Calrissian. “The kid was bummed”, Calrissian told our reporters. “Like, totally bummed, man.” Authorities were not called to the scene of the incident, and it was reported that alcohol was not involved. At press time Skywalker had also learned that Leia Organa was his sister, making the passionate kiss they shared earlier quite awkward indeed.

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An Imperial probe droid. It’s a good bet the Empire has seen this perfect reproduction

Sometimes you look at a creation and don’t even realize you’re looking at something built out of LEGO bricks. That’s exactly what Lino Martins has achieved with his Imperial Probe Droid. At first glance, you might mistake the Arakyd Industries Viper probe droid for an action figure, but upon closer inspection you realize that it is, in fact, made up of LEGO elements. LEGO Imperial Probe Droid (Probot)
Of course, it helps that he’s used certain pieces that are perfect substitutes for what is seen in the Empire Strikes Back, for example the Technic pins look almost identical to the ends of the antenna. And that’s just starting at the top – scanning the rest of the model shows more and more components that look enough like the reel thing to make you think it’s searching for your hidden Rebel base.

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